Crew Talk

Amissa Health CEO Sam Smith breaks down why menopause has been healthcare's blind spot and how a new data layer is helping clinicians actually see what their patients are experiencing. Guest: Sam Smith CEO & Co/Founder Amissa Health For more information check out Amissa.com or reach out to healthcrewhq.com

Less than 8% of Americans are metabolically healthy... and your budget is absorbing all of it. Dr. Ferro from Betr Health joins Crew Talk to talk about it.

HIMSS 2026 kicks off in Las Vegas today. 25,000 healthcare leaders are on the ground, nearly a third from the C-suite. The big shift this year — AI conversations are moving from "should we" to "we're doing it, now what." Microsoft just turned Dragon Copilot into a clinical AI platform. What started as an ambient documentation tool is now an app store for clinical AI — with partners like Optum, Reg...

AI therapy chatbots are everywhere and nobody's really in charge of them. A new Brown University study exposes serious ethical gaps in how general-purpose AI handles mental health conversations and what healthcare leaders need to do before it becomes a patient safety event. Plus Deep Thoughts on why too much sweet ruins the treat.

Special Episode: The ChatGPT Health Study Mount Sinai just published the first independent safety evaluation of ChatGPT Health—the AI tool 40 million people are using daily to decide whether they need emergency care. The findings are sobering: a 52% under-triage rate on true emergencies, anchoring bias that follows when family members minimize symptoms, and suicide crisis safeguards that triggered...

Check out Healthcrewhq.com Health Insurers Turn to AI to Cut Billions in Costs — Providers Should Be Paying Attention Squeezed margins are pushing major payers to deploy AI across utilization management and prior auth, raising concerns about rising denials and lack of transparency. Health Systems Go All In on Agentic AI for End-to-End Clinical Workflows The conversation has moved past scribes — sy...

Headline 1: My Experience with Earl 2 Shelby returns after experimenting with OpenClaw (formerly MoltBot), the viral open-source AI agent that autonomously executes tasks on your computer. Despite security researchers calling it a "disaster waiting to happen," he installed it to understand firsthand what autonomous AI actually feels like. His experience provides crucial context for understanding t...

Headline 1: CMS 2027 Medicare Advantage Rate Shock Triggers $80B Market Wipeout—The Golden Era is Over CMS proposed just 0.09% rate increase for 2027 MA plans versus expected 4-6%, includes aggressive 1.53% cut from eliminating chart-review-only diagnoses, sending CVS, Elevance, and UnitedHealth stocks into freefall on January 27 and forcing health systems to rethink their entire MA strategy. Head...

EPISODE SUMMARY: Headline 1: Amazon Launches Health AI for One Medical—The Clinical AI Race Heats Up Amazon rolled out Health AI integrated directly into One Medical's app, letting patients access records, book appointments, and manage prescriptions through agentic AI—positioning itself against OpenAI and Anthropic in the race to own clinical AI interactions. Headline 2: CMS Finalizes HIPAA Securi...

Headline 1: The Megadeal Era is Over—M&A Without a "Big Why" is Just Expensive Anxiety Healthcare megadeals collapsed by 60% in 2025, and M&A has shifted from growth strategy to rescue mission—if you can't explain the deal in one sentence, don't do it. Headline 2: Vizient's "New Margin Math"—Old Growth Levers Are Broken, AI is the Last Big Bet Hospitals are saving more lives but losing mon...

Insurer CEOs grilled on affordability Major payers defend pricing and profits on Capitol Hill as lawmakers shift the blame narrative from providers to insurers, signaling margin pressure that will ripple downstream. OpenEvidence becomes a $12B company A physician-facing AI tool leaps from pilot to infrastructure, forcing health systems and payers to rethink workforce strategy, utilization manageme...

AI poised to legally prescribe medications in select U.S. states by end of 2026 (Multiple Sources) Why it matters: Utah's regulatory sandbox transitions AI from clinical assistant to clinical actor, forcing health systems to scenario-plan workforce strategy, governance frameworks, and competitive positioning before the commodity care automation wave arrives. Digital health IPO momentum builds as s...

AI can flag cognitive decline nearly on par with humans (Fierce Healthcare, Jan 15) Why it matters: AI's near-human accuracy in detecting cognitive decline from notes offers a scalable early-intervention tool, reshaping provider workflows and resource allocation for aging populations. Former AMA president: Without overhaul, U.S. health care system will implode (STAT News, Jan 19) Why it matters: J...

Story 1: Trump releases “Great Healthcare Plan” framework Why it matters: Signals potential shifts in drug pricing, transparency, and subsidy flow. Story 2: Trinity Health cuts 10.5% of rev cycle roles Why it matters: Another sign RCM is being rebuilt around automation and standard work. Story 3: Prior auth reform hits first 2026 deadline Why it matters: Insurers’ pledge moves from press release t...

OpenEvidence pitches “medical super-intelligence” at JPM26 (STAT News) Why it matters: Clinical decision support is aiming past summaries into reasoning, which raises the upside for workflow quality and the pressure on governance, accountability, and liability. Waystar unveils agentic AI for revenue cycle at JPM26 (Fierce Healthcare) Why it matters: Agentic RCM targets denial prevention and faster...

Digital Health Funding Reached $14.2B in 2025, with AI Deals Capturing 54% and M&A Volume Up 61% (Rock Health / Fierce Healthcare, Jan 12) Amazon One Medical Pushes Employer-Sponsored Primary Care Memberships (JPM26 coverage and One Medical for Business framing, Jan 12) Hospitals Are Staring Down a Make-or-Break Year (Axios, Jan 13)

Headline 1: OpenAI launches ChatGPT Health with b.well integration for personal health data sync and review Summary: Consumer health questions are moving into an AI interface that can connect to real records, which could reshape how people understand, navigate, and trust care. Headline 2: 67% of physicians report daily AI use in practice Summary: AI is already embedded in clinical work, and the re...

Sanford Health doubles down on its provider-led health plan to counter Medicare Advantage pressures and signals why tighter care plus coverage integration is becoming a real strategy. FDA announces sweeping changes to the oversight of wearables and AI-enabled devices and shifts more of the “is this safe and real” burden from regulators to buyers. OpenAI says 40 million people use ChatGPT daily for...

2026 Outlook: Hybrid care companies poised for strong growth (Fierce Healthcare) 21,000 New York nurses to launch strike Jan. 12 (Fierce Healthcare) Tech Compass 2026: AI optimism rises, but people want a “pause button” (Bosch)

STAT: Who will pay for AI in health care? The market has plenty of clinical AI, but reimbursement is not keeping up, so health systems are staring down another “unfunded standard of care” moment. KFF: Policy changes bring renewed focus on high-deductible health plans 2026 plan design is pushing more cost onto consumers, which changes behavior, delays care, and turns affordability into an operation...

We will be back Jan 5th. 2026

A special episode on the ACA subsidy cliff and why it’s more than “policy drama.” We break down where things stand right now, what the 2026 reality looks like for premiums and behavior, what people are arguing about, and how to lead through it if you run a plan, health system, or benefits team.

Headline 1 FDA digital health leaders exit amid reorgs, which could slow approvals and reshape how AI devices get reviewed heading into 2026. Headline 2 Employers are seeing big ROI on workplace insurance, but the hidden cost is rising employee friction that quietly hits trust, retention, and delayed care. Headline 3 The ACA subsidy cliff is back on the edge, and if it drops, plans and systems cou...

Headline 1: Is healthcare in an AI bubble? CIOs weigh in (Becker’s Hospital Review, Nov 17, 2025) A bunch of CIOs basically say the hype might pop, but the workflow wins are real, measurable, and already changing day-to-day care operations. Headline 2: Growing GLP-1 drug costs squeeze Minnesota employers and health plans (Axios Twin Cities, Dec 15, 2025) GLP-1s are helping people and hammering bud...

Five Ways AI Agents Will Transform Healthcare Operations AI is shifting from suggesting to actually doing the work—from revenue cycle to clinician support—forcing leaders to ask: what are you ready to delegate in 2026? Non-Labor Expenses Are Becoming Hospitals' Biggest Cost Threat The quiet margin squeeze isn’t coming from labor anymore—it’s hiding in thousands of “that’s just how we’ve always don...